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#Bonas lauds employees for years of service at 2017 Spring Honors and Awards Ceremony

Apr 05, 2017 |

As part of its Spring Honors and Awards Ceremony Tuesday, April 4, St. Bonaventure University recognized 60 employees who marked employment anniversaries or who are retiring.

During the employee recognition portion of the ceremony, individuals with 10 years of service and up were recognized, with those reaching 25 years of service, 50 years of service, and retirees receiving special recognition.

Philip Eberl of Rixford, Pa., was recognized for 50 years of service.

This year, as the School of Education at the university celebrates its 100th anniversary, it is noted that Eberl came to St. Bonaventure 62 years ago and has enjoyed the Bona’s cultural milieu from:

1955-1959 as an undergraduate student. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and grade 7-12 New York state certification.

1960-64 as a graduate student. Eberl earned a Master of Education degree in administration along with principal and supervisor New York state certification.

1967-2000 as a faculty member teaching undergraduate and graduate courses.

2001-2017 as the certification officer for the School of Education.

Throughout the past 50 years, the core and center of Eberl’s life has been to meet, teach, advise, mentor and encourage St. Bonaventure students.

“They are God’s gift to St. Bonaventure and our task is to guide them on their own ‘Good Journey’ in life,” Eberl said.

As a senator and member of the Faculty Senate’s Curriculum Committee in 1972, Eberl coordinated the proposal for the first transfer program and then served as the transfer coordinator for the School of Education from 1972 to 2013. From 1987, he was a member of the SBU faculty and administration team who assisted the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford in developing its elementary and secondary programs. As an adjunct instructor, he taught courses each semester and summer for 13 years at Pitt-Bradford.

Eberl was introduced to interesting and rewarding classroom experiences not typical of college rapport by teaching and advising seminarians at Christ the King Seminar until their move to East Aurora and also by teaching in the SBU Canadian program in the 1990s.

He considers it a special privilege to have served on the first committee that assisted Fr. Dan Riley, O.F.M., in building the Chapel and other cabins at Mt. Irenaeus as the growth of the “Mountain Family” became a special spiritual gift to SBU.

Representing the university on Pennsylvania regional boards of education with writing and implementing their long-range curriculum and building programs was a 30-year enjoyable experience for Eberl. He also has been privileged to serve with 13 university presidents and 12 deans of education over these past years.

His goal for the next five years (2022) is twofold, he says: to experience the successful completion of the new five-year Strategic Plan and to attend this ceremony for his 55th anniversary year award.

Two employees in the Department of Athletics, Sean McNamee and Barbara Questa, were recognized for 25 years of service.

In addition, McNamee has coached to a third-place finish or better in 23 of his 25 seasons at the helm along with 38 A-10 Academic All-Conference selections, eight All-Atlantic 10 Rookie performers and four A-10 Most Outstanding performers.

He has guided the Bonnies to five Atlantic 10 championships, most recently in 2014, when St. Bonaventure defended its title. His Bonnies also own six (out of 20) of the A-10 Conference meet records.

McNamee replaced his brother, Kevin, at St. Bonaventure in 1992. In his first season at Bona, his team captured the Atlantic 10 title, he earned A-10 Coach of the Year honors and six Bonnies qualified for the U.S. Senior Nationals.

In 1997, McNamee’s Bonnies surprised the field by finishing second at the Atlantic 10 Championships, after being picked to finish in the lower half in the preseason. McNamee’s efforts earned him his second Coach of the Year award. The 1998-99 season brought McNamee his second A-10 title and his third Coach of the Year honor.

The Bonnies’ competitive success under McNamee is equaled by their consistent academic achievement. For 16 seasons, the men’s swimming and diving team has placed more than one individual on the Academic All-Conference Team that recognizes the top select student-athletes in the conference.

McNamee graduated from St. Bonaventure in 1986. He spent one season as an assistant at the University of Iowa before heading to West Virginia University, where he earned his master’s degree while working as an assistant swim coach.

In 1990, he accepted his first head coaching position at SUNY Potsdam. During his two seasons at Potsdam, McNamee qualified several of his swimmers for the NCAA Division III Championships.

McNamee lives in Olean with his wife, Rosemary. They have three children, Caitlyn, Liam and Shannon.

Barbara Questa is the most senior member of the athletics administration team. After spending 15 years as the senior associate director of athletics, she was promoted to deputy director of Athletics in fall 2013. In this leadership role, Questa oversees the day-to-day operations of the department, including direct involvement in financial oversight, human resource initiatives, strategic planning, and unit operations. She supervises three sports, is the departmental liaison to a variety of university offices and serves on a number of internal committees, including the university’s Board of Trustees’ Committee on Athletics.

She serves as the university’s NCAA Senior Woman Administrator, a title she has held since she began her tenure in 1992. Questa’s responsibilities at SBU progressively grew through her various positions of assistant athletic director, associate athletic director, senior associate athletic director, and she served as interim director of athletics four times, most recently in 2012.

Questa has served on numerous Atlantic 10 Conference committees and is the longest-active female administrator. She chairs the Women’s Lacrosse Committee and has served in the past on the Officiating Committee, Swimming and Diving Committee, Women’s Basketball Committee, Finance Committee, Television Committee and Commissioner’s Search Committee. She recently completed a five-year term on the Executive Committee of the Collegiate Women’s Lacrosse Officiating Association.

During her tenure she has been a guest speaker at various high schools as well as Alfred University’s Women’s Leadership Center.

Prior to joining St. Bonaventure, Questa worked at the East Coast Conference as assistant commissioner for Championships and Compliance and also at Syracuse University.

Questa received her bachelor’s degree in physical education from Temple University in 1988. In 1992, she earned her Master of Education degree from Temple University with a concentration in sports administration.

A standout student-athlete at Temple, she was an All-American and All-Region defender on the 1988 NCAA Championship women’s lacrosse team and a four-year member of the nationally ranked field hockey team. She also was a member of the U.S. Women’s Lacrosse National Team in 1988-1989. During the summer of 1989, she was part of a select group of individuals who traveled to Prague, in the former Czechoslovakia, to introduce lacrosse to the country and participate in the first international lacrosse tournament held in an eastern-bloc country. Along with other members of Temple University’s 1988 NCAA Division I National Championship Women’s Lacrosse team, Questa was inducted into Temple’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.

Questa lives in Allegany with her husband, Joe, and son, Michael. Her stepdaughter, Santana, is a 2013 graduate of St. Bonaventure.

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